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Monday, December 31, 2012

I'm not one of those bloggers who likes to publish a "Best of..." post at the end of the year.

I figure if you want to spend your last few hours of 2012 looking at my humble little blog, then by all means, go for it. But you'll have to dig around on your own. I'm not going to tell you which posts are the "best". If you really want to know, there's a widget over there --------> that shows which of my posts have been viewed the most.

On the other hand, if you're like most folks, you aren't even reading this message. You're off partying with friends or playing board games with your kids or listening to a radio countdown or watching a ball drop on TV. Which is as it should be, I think. I'm headed that way myself.

Friday, December 28, 2012

I did it, but barely. I read the 26 books I set out to read this year.

I was
able to finish six books - five novels and one non-fiction - in November and December:

The Flame Alphabet - Ben Marcus
My
Rating: 1 out of 5.

I had high hopes of enjoying this book after reading the jacket flap. Adults were becoming ill, sometimes fatally so, from the sounds of children's speech. It seemed like such an interesting, if far-fetched premise, and the type of sci-fi/suspense story I could really get into. Umm...not so much. The plot was weak, and there was a Jewish sub-text that didn't seem to have any relevance to the story. I should have ditched this book early on, but I kept reading in hopes of find out why the adults were affected by communication with their children. Unfortunately, I felt as lost at the end as I did at the beginning.

The Giver - Lois Lowry
My Rating: 4 out of 5.

Gathering Blue - Lois Lowry
My Rating: 4 out of 5.

Messenger - Lois Lowry
My Rating: 4 out of 5.

Son - Lois Lowry

My Rating: 4 out of 5.

I've read more young adult fiction this year than I have since I was a preteen. This series of four novels was recommended by Kat's mom after I read the Hunger Games series.

This series consists of three unrelated villages, the third being a haven for those who can escape the first two (as well as other) dystopian societies. By the fourth novel, the connections between the characters from the different villages is made known.

Like Hunger Games, there are some disturbing premises in these stories. Unlike Hunger Games, there is very little violence involved. There are some supernatural elements involved, but if looked at symbolically rather than literally, they don't seem to detract from the plot.

The books, the first of which is a Newberry Medal winner, are well-written and suitable for 'tweens, teens and adults alike.

I am not a Civil War buff, but The Battle of Westport and surrounding events is of interest to me for its local history. Unfortunately, this book was hard to follow. The author seemed to be "all over the place", and I was often confused about who was fighting for the North, who for the South, whether they were in Missouri or Kansas at any given time, etc. Many of the players' names were the same or similar, but the author would use full names here, only surnames there, until I couldn't decipher who was being written about at times.

I do think an account of this battle is worth my time to read, but I will first seek out a book that is less confusing.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

In the interest of cooking "real food" and trying to get away from most processed foods, I've revamped a family-favorite recipe here. This is something I used to make with condensed cream of mushroom soup and dry onion soup mix. Now I use fresh mushrooms, fresh dairy, and fresh onions. It only takes a few minutes longer to make, and in my opinion, tastes better.

In a large skillet (preferrably oven-proof), heat 2 tablespoons of bacon grease, then brown all chops on both sides. Remove chops to plate and keep warm

In same skillet, add additional bacon grease if needed, then saute chopped onions and mushrooms until onions are tender, about 5-7 minutes.

Stir in flour and cook for about 1 minute, adding small amount of additional bacon grease if needed. Whisk in meat stock and half-and-half. Cook, stirring constantly, for 3 to 5 minutes until gravy thicken and flour loses raw taste. Season as desired with salt and pepper.

Return chops to skillet or transfer to an oven-safe baking dish. Pour or spoon gravy over top. Cover skillet with lid or baking dish with foil.

Bake for 75 to 90 minutes or until chops are very tender. If gravy is too thin after cooking, thicken further with a cornstarch or arrowroot slurry.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

When I signed off last Tuesday, Kat was missing her second day of school because she was sick. We found out on Wednesday she had bronchitis, and she ended up missing school all week.

My Facebook followers already know this, but for those who don't, on Wednesday night we had a small smoldering fire in our attic. It's a long story, but the short of it is that it happened when we threw a breaker and tried to get our power back on, so we found it quickly and there was no damage. Our fire department was able to extinguish it with a portable water sprayer, so there wasn't even any water damage. It was caused by a bare wire in our attic, which has since been replaced by an electrician and inspected by our city codes department. In the near future (early January?) we'll have the electricians back out to update all the wiring in the house to prevent future mishaps.

A hole burned in a rafter, about the size of a softball.
You can see the bare wire just to the left.

One thing I'd like to say about the fire is that, although we had a good deal more time to evacuate than we would have had the fire been blazing, the idea of grabbing photos, keepsakes, etc., did not even cross my mind or Shane's. Kat had just gone to bed, so we woke her and got her into coat and shoes and out the door. Shane grabbed our laptop computers for no other reason than they were easily at hand and he thought it might make dealing with banks, insurance, etc., easier if we did incur a loss. We each grabbed our phones, wallets and keys, and we each moved a vehicle out of our driveway and into the driveways of some vacant homes on our street. That was it. To get anything else out simply didn't occur to us.

Now, you might be wondering what we did about the cats. We love our cats, but we did not bring them out of the house with us. Again, this was a smoldering fire, and while we were taking precautions and not trying to extinguish it ourselves in the dark, we did not feel as if the entire house was going to go up in flames. Our three indoor cats have never been outside, and in this case, we felt they were safer staying inside for the firefighters to rescue if it came to that.

Thursday was spent dealing with electricians, inspectors, and insurance adjusters (by the way, no claim was required), a sick child, and a grown child with a stalled car in the seasons first snow-fall of the year. It was a beautiful day. (sarcasm)

Friday evening, with Kat showing signs of improvement, we spent a short time at our friends' house for a small Christmas party. Saturday we returned to the same friends' house for a cookie exchange and brought home more cookies than we'll eat in a month!

Sunday was Christmas on my side of the family, at my Dad's house. We met my 80-year-old dad's new "girlfriend", feasted on ham and other good food, and played a gift exchange game. The party-poopers in my family far outnumber the partiers, so no one was too disappointed when Dad said it was the last big Christmas gathering he would host. Also -- my next-older sister patted my somewhat jiggly tummy and asked me if I'm pregnant. Oddly, she remained standing.

Monday was a great day (no sarcasm this time). We enjoyed breakfast out with Shane's dad and step-mom, and did a little shopping on our way home. Hitting the stores on Christmas Eve isn't bad when you aren't buying Christmas gifts; we were just buying a few things we needed for home. Breakfast held us over for the day, then we had an early dinner out with my daughter T and her husband M at a Chinese buffet restaurant. We weren't the only ones with a good idea - the place was packed and the food was delicious, especially the sushi. M somehow ended up with three fortunes that night, although he only had the one cookie. Fortunate, indeed!

Yesterday, of course, was the big day! Kat seemed thrilled with the gifts we (and Santa) gave her.

Queen Anne's Revenge!

TARDIS socks!

Shane and I don't exchange gifts, but we do fill stockings for each other and help Kat get one gift for each of us. I was very happy to get 4 skeins of sock yarn, a yarn cannister, a portable craft lamp and a couple of pairs of warm fuzzy socks. I made a ham and egg pizza for breakfast, and for lunch I literally pulled odds and ends from the fridge to snack on. We all sat around watching Kat play or playing with her, watching funny videos on Youtube, and relaxing in general. It was a very low key day that suited us all just fine.

And now...I hope to get back into some daily routines, sans holidays, illnesses and near-disasters. Washing dishes and doing laundry sounds good to me.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Yep, that's me. Yesterday was my birthday and I turned 49. Now, I didn't know this, but when you turn 49, you lose all ability to make decisions.

Shane asked me what I wanted to do yesterday, but I couldn't decide.

I sat with my recipes in front of me (aka, Pinterest) and considered what to make for dinner, but I couldn't decide.

When I asked Shane what we should do about lunch, and he bounced it back to me with "It's your birthday, what do YOU want to do for lunch?", I didn't know whether to laugh, scream, cry or strangle him. Not only couldn't I decide about lunch, but I couldn't even decide how to feel.Yep, it was one of those days. I finally asked him to please take over because I didn't know what the hell I wanted other than to not have to make decisions.

So, in the end, we stayed home all day in our jammies, ate chicken soup for lunch and I made meatloaf for supper. Turned out to be a pretty good birthday after all

And, you know, I'm feeling much more decisive this morning. Today I'm going to make cookies. Definitely cookies, or maybe I'll make fudge. Some brownies might be nice instead...

While
oil is heating, remove wrapper from string cheese pieces. If using
egg roll wrappers, you will need one wrapper per piece of cheese. If
using wonton wrappers, you will need to cut each cheese stick into
thirds crosswise and use three wrappers.

Wrap each piece of
cheese "burrito-style" by placing a single wrapper in front of you with a
point toward you. Place piece of cheese across the wrapper near the
center. Fold the point nearest you up and over the cheese, but a
1/2-inch or so below the top point. Brush exposed edges of wrapper with
water. Fold in side points, then roll cheese toward top point,
pressing to seal all edges. Set aside and cover with a barely-damp
paper towel while rolling remaining cheese sticks.

Deep fry
appetizers in batches in hot oil until wrappers are golden brown and
bubbly. Drain on paper towels and cool slightly before serving.

Alternately,
place rolled appetizers on a lined baking sheet and bake 375°F degrees
until golden brown, turning once to brown on all sides. Let cool slightly before serving.

(BTW,
I think I first saw this recipe somewhere on Pinterest, but I don't see
it on my boards now, so I don't know who should get credit.)

Monday, December 10, 2012

I call this Wintertime Salsa because it's an easy salsa to make in the
winter, when garden fresh tomatoes and peppers might not be available.
It uses canned and dried ingredients, but still has a fresh taste
compared to grocery store salsa sold in a jar.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
Put the butter in a heavy-bottomed pan on the heat to melt. When nearly
melted, stir in the chocolate. Leave for a moment to soften, then take
the pan off the heat and stir with a wooden spoon until the butter and
chocolate are smooth and melted. Now add the cherry jam, sugar, salt
and beaten eggs. Stir with a wooden spoon and when all is pretty well
combined stir in the flour.
Scrape and pour into the muffin papers in cupcake pan and bake for 25-28
minutes, or until toothpick test comes our clean. Cool in the pan on a
rack for 10 minutes before turning out.
To make frosting, cream together butter, cocoa, vanilla, salt, and corn
syrup. Slowly mix in powdered sugar. Add water to desired
consistency. Frosting will be a very light brown, but will darken by
the next day. It will also have a more pronounced chocolate flavor the
next day.

When the cupcakes are cool, pipe icing on cooled cupcakes using a large
star tip. Sprinkle with crushed malt balls and top each cupcake with a
cherry.
Makes 12 cupcakes.

Place chips in a microwave safe bowl; microwave at 50% power for 2-4
minutes (depending on your microwave). Stir chips and add 4 tbsp heavy
cream. If the mixture seizes, add 2 more tablespoons on top and
microwave for another 1-2 minutes and stir until smooth. It should be
about the consistency of pudding

Add a heaping teaspoon full on top of each cookie and allow to solidify
before freezing or storing. Sprinkle with white nonpariels, if desired.

Spoon
about 1 teaspoon sausage mixture onto each round. Fold each in half;
seal edges with fork or fingers. Cut slit in top of each with sharp
knife. Place on ungreased (or parchment-lined) cookie sheet. Brush each
foldover with beaten egg.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until
golden. Meanwhile, heat remaining pizza sauce in small pan until hot.
Serve warm appetizers with warm pizza sauce for dipping.

Makes 22 appetizers. *

Source: Pillsbury Holiday Appetizers and Desserts December 2003

* I was able to get 20 rounds from each crust and had plenty of filling for a total of 40 appetizers.

Combine all ingredients in Crock-Pot set on LOW. Stir frequently until
all chips melt and peanuts are evenly coated. While you don't have to
stir constantly, do stir the mixture often so that it doesn't burn
around the edges of the Crock-Pot. If your slow cooker has a KEEP WARM
setting, use that after the chips have all melted and while you are
spooning the candy out.

Place dough in oiled bowl and cover with a towel. Let rise until dough has doubled in size. Punch down.

Heat
oven to 475°F. Grease a baking sheet or line with parchment paper; set
aside. Roll dough into a 10x6-inch rectangle; cut lengthwise into twelve
1/2-inch strips. Roll each strip into a rope about 16 inches long (I
recommend at least 20 inches long). Shape each rope into a pretzel.

Dissolve
the 2 teaspoons salt in boiling water; reduce heat to simmer. Slide
pretzels, a few at a time, into water and simmer, uncovered, for 2
minutes, turning once. Using a slotted spoon, remove from water; drain
on a wire rack. Place 1/2 inch apart on well-greased (or parchment
lined) baking sheet.

Monday, December 3, 2012

To me, nothing brings to mind an old-fashioned Christmas better than the taste black walnuts, in fudge or in these cookies.
These cookies are a little "fussy", so I highly recommend following these tips:

Don't try these without parchment paper, or maybe a Silpat, on your cookie sheet. I really don't think they'd come off any pan, even a non-stick one, without parchment or a Silpat.

After
combining all the ingredients, let the batter rest for about 10
minutes. It will get lighter and foamier and not spread so much on the
cookie sheet. It also seemed to make the cookies easier to remove from
the parchment.

As with most cookies, don't put the batter on a warm pan. If you have only one or two pans, let them cool between bakings.

Finally,
keep your eyes on these. One pan came out beautifully at 10 minutes,
but the next, also at 10 minutes, were a little over-baked.